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Rapido has launched its food delivery service Ownly across Bengaluru after a six-month pilot. The rollout positions it against market leaders Swiggy and Zomato. The company tested operations in select areas before expanding city-wide following research and restaurant onboarding efforts.

India's bike-taxi giant Rapido has officially thrown its hat into the country's fiercely contested food delivery ring. Ownly, Rapido's food delivery service, has officially launched across Bengaluru following a six-month pilot, positioning itself as a challenger to market leaders Swiggy and Zomato. The full city rollout, announced at a town hall organised by the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI).

Ownly expands to city-wide operations in Bengaluru

The road to this launch was deliberately cautious. During the pilot phase, which kicked off in August last year, the service was available in select areas of the city, including Koramangala, HSR and BTM Layout. The company used that time to stress-test its logistics, refine restaurant onboarding and understand consumer behaviour on the ground. Only after gathering those insights did Rapido pull the trigger on a city-wide rollout.

The Bengaluru rollout follows a pilot in select neighbourhoods including Koramangala, HSR Layout and BTM Layout. The company said it conducted research on consumer behaviour and worked with restaurant partners over the past year before the broader launch.

Ownly claims to work on a zero-commission model

At the heart of Ownly's pitch is a model that upends the economics of food delivery as Indians know it. The newly launched platform operates on a zero-commission model and does not charge any fee from restaurants, but only a standard delivery fee based on distance from customers - currently a flat delivery fee of Rs. 30 per order.

Vivek Vashishta, Rapido's head of new initiatives, reportedly told restaurant partners at the NRAI town hall, "There are absolutely no charges to restaurants. There are no commissions, there are no marketing fees, there are no subscription fees." Delivery costs, he explained, are borne entirely by customers through a per-kilometre fee - a deliberate structural departure from the model used by incumbents.

Unlike Swiggy and Zomato, which charge restaurants between 16–30 percent commission, Ownly promises no commission fees, no platform charges, and no packaging costs for restaurant partners. For consumers, the company says this translates to meals priced approximately 15 percent lower than those on established rivals Swiggy and Zomato.

The platform also mandates price parity across online and offline channels, with no separate packaging mark-ups - a direct response to a complaint long-voiced by both restaurant owners and consumers.

Ownly partners with NRAI

Ownly's partnership with the NRAI, which claims to represent over 50,000 eateries nationwide, has been central to its go-to-market strategy. The platform was set up in collaboration with NRAI to solve a few pain points in the food delivery space, including high commissions, heavy discounting and the lack of access to customer data by restaurants.

Restaurants will not be charged for visibility or customer data access - both of which have historically been flashpoints of contention between food platforms and the dining industry. Ownly has also integrated with POS systems, including Urban Piper and Rista, and will take liability for delivery mishaps.

The delivery fleet: Rapido's existing driver network

One of Ownly's structural advantages is its parent company's rider network. Going forward, Ownly will train its Rapido two-wheeler captains to bring down the cost of food delivery. Currently, the platform is using a specialised fleet to handle deliveries. On a daily basis, Rapido completes six million rides.

Vashishta said the company will initially prioritise the dedicated fleet, citing its training for food deliveries, before gradually integrating Rapido's broader captain network.

Ownly expansion plans

With Bengaluru stabilised, the expansion question now looms large and Rapido is not coy about its ambitions. Vashishta indicated Ownly is targeting other large cities, with Tier-1 markets among the priorities, saying: "People know that they can isolate us in this one city – that we don't really mean business." He noted that while it would take time to scale across Rapido's 600-city network, Tier-1 cities and selected Tier-2 and Tier-3 locations are "very definitely in the plan."

The original expansion roadmap had envisaged two or three cities by October 2025 and a 10-city footprint by July 2026. Industry reports suggest Delhi NCR is likely to be the next major market, followed by Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune and Chennai, though Rapido has not publicly confirmed specific timelines for individual cities.

The road ahead is steep. As of early 2026, Zomato commands an estimated 55–58 percent of Gross Order Value in the food delivery segment, with Swiggy holding 42–45 percent. Together, the two incumbents have spent years building restaurant relationships, consumer habit, and technology infrastructure.